I do not understand the praise for this film

Rating: 4/10 (11 December 2003)

My Rating: *1/2 out of ****.
Almost every critic praised this movies this summer, especially Rolling Stone. The film also did fairly well at the box office (45 million is pretty good for this kind of film). Yet, when I was done watching it, I wondered if I had seen the same film. 28 Days Later is a stylish, occasionally suspenseful, and a somewhat inventive film. However, it is also boring, has unlikable characters, flat performances, an unintelligent script, a dumb ending, and to top it off a moment of pretension.
For a while, 28 Days Later appears to be something different from the normal zombie film. The scenes where Jim was walking through London are cool. It is shown as an empty city with absolutely no noise, this makes for a scary place to be. The film has a distinct look to it that reminded me of the look of The French Connection. Like that film, this look gives 28 Days Later a more gritty feel to it. 28 Days Later has atmosphere from the beginning to the end.
Like I mentioned the film does have its suspenseful moments. The scenes where London is presented an an empty city. We do not know what is going to happen but were on the edge of our seats to find out what does happen. There is also a scene where the characters rush to change a tire before the zombies get them. The film also does a few inventive things. The look of the zombies are simple(Red Eyes) but it is effective. Also, I liked the way how the people became zombies (blood in the eye and the barfing was cool).

However, even though there are good things about 28 Days Later it has alot of bad points. The scenes in London are interesting because of the suspense and style. You briefly get to know the characters too. However, once the characters go on a road trip this film goes down hill. The film becomes boring and you do not like the characters. I mean not every film you have to necessarily like the characters but I really did not care if the characters died here. There is also a pretentious moment during the road trip. How out of place is classical music here? The film also suffers from flat performances.
As mediocre as the road trip moments are they are not the worst part of the film. Why in the hell did they get the military involved? This part of the film has such a tacked on feel to it. Its also really dumb and not suspenseful in the slightest. The ending is terribly bad too. I really did not want to see the characters survive at all.
The film also feels incomplete because of the unintelligent script. Why are some of the people dead and some of them are zombies? If the virus was released into London why isn't everyone affected? I am not saying a film can not be open ended but the holes here are ridiculous.
I was anticipating alot from 28 Days Later, maybe too much. Danny Boyle proved The Beach was no fluke. He really is losing steam. Yet, while The Beach was mediocre, 28 Days Later is just bad. It could have been good with a better script but from what I see here it is a mess.